Im_Chipper_Dale
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2002
- Messages
- 16
First... thanks again for all the tips prior to my trip...
I hope a little of this info will be helpful to others... any question... just ask.
Trip w/ my DW, 2 DDs and mobility impaired sister (can walk just a little and can not do stairs). Sister invited a friend with her two children to stay with her.
We drove from Pa and arrived late and stayed at Port Orleans for our first night (without my sister). Short trip to Downtown Disney - thunderstorm cut it short but we needed the sleep anyway. Next day we transfered to BWV.
Sister flew down that day. I had towncar (Fl. Tours) pick her up. All went well there. Treated her very well. Pick up at end of stay was a little odd; Fl Tours car arrived but did not know name of person to be picked up (I asked if they were there for us to make sure it was the right car - it was ours based on the time).
We had two one-bedroom units. Sister's room was accessible - had roll in shower with seat. She loved it. She had room overlooking the BW and a view of spaceship earth. My room had view of Dolphin (although my memory may fail and it may have been the Swan).
I rented an ecv and a wc for my sister from Walker. She is big so I got the big scooter. Walker was great... scooter worked fine... no problems... and it was there with instructions when we checked in. We left them there when we checked out. Only problem I had was the large scooter did not fit in my car (Mercury Sable). Close... but, no cigar. So the wc came in handy for a few trips.
Disney transport CMs were great with one exception. Bus drivers were great. Monorail was great. Most boats were great. Had one run with a CM on boat from MGM to BWV. I had to beg to get ramp at MGM and then she refused to put it down at BWV. I let her know I was angry... she wanted to explain why she would not put it down... I told her I did not want to hear her story. My sister has a bad back and the bounce over the gap between the boat and dock was not too comfortable for her. I reported her at hotel.
Rides that worked out great (stay in ecv): Jungle Cruise, Imagination.
Rides that worked out - transfer to wc: Small World, Energy, MK Train
Rides that worked out - transfer to ride vehicle: Haunted mansion - HM gets special Kudos for treatment... Bob & Becky (if memory serves) were special. They listened to me... stopped the ride when the right car came along and gave her a special escort (asked her name and then led the way through the exit saying..."no time for autographs...she's too busy... too famous...make way" etc.... my sister really really enjoyed it. Thanks again Bob.
We later visited HM again and again got very good treatment... sorry I forgot the names.
Rides that she could not do: Mexico- could not handle large wheelchair (CM did it; I would have liked to try);
She tried but was unable to get on Spaceship earth ride - they also would not stop it like I asked... until my sister became unstable... I told them but they did not listen until almost too late!
I did get GAC but found it pretty useless. CM's would not even look at it when I presented it... I eventually stopped trying and just pleaded my case when necessary. When I did get it (and I got two because I hoped the first bad CM was a fluke) they did not listen to what she needed... just 'stamped' it with the generic message that didn't help much.
I must say, I admire all of you that struggle with this for a lifetime... I had one week and was ready to pound a few thoughtless individuals. I learned a lot.
BWV was nice... checking desk was always busy.
Buses are way overcrowded. They almost always leave filled with people standing and others that could not board. The wc access was very good. Drivers were great but they are asked to do the impossible with the number of buses that are running. I knew it was going to be bad the first night... I needed to take a bus from DTD to Port Orleans... as I approached the bus stop there was a very large crowd and they were cheering as a bus finally pulled up. It was almost full already, so not many could board. In Disney's defense... they do send other buses... it's just they wait until there is a problem and they they fix it... instead of not having the problem. Plus, people are not too happy having to stand on every bus trip after a long day in the parks. Every bus trip I made was the same. I had no problem with monorail or boats.
We ate at LTT dinner, LeCelier, Coral Reef, Spoodles, Morocco, Japan, Cape May Cafe breakfast - all went well at the restaurants. At Coral Reef we could not get close to the glass because of the ECV need but we still had a good view.
I hope a little of this info will be helpful to others... any question... just ask.
Trip w/ my DW, 2 DDs and mobility impaired sister (can walk just a little and can not do stairs). Sister invited a friend with her two children to stay with her.
We drove from Pa and arrived late and stayed at Port Orleans for our first night (without my sister). Short trip to Downtown Disney - thunderstorm cut it short but we needed the sleep anyway. Next day we transfered to BWV.
Sister flew down that day. I had towncar (Fl. Tours) pick her up. All went well there. Treated her very well. Pick up at end of stay was a little odd; Fl Tours car arrived but did not know name of person to be picked up (I asked if they were there for us to make sure it was the right car - it was ours based on the time).
We had two one-bedroom units. Sister's room was accessible - had roll in shower with seat. She loved it. She had room overlooking the BW and a view of spaceship earth. My room had view of Dolphin (although my memory may fail and it may have been the Swan).
I rented an ecv and a wc for my sister from Walker. She is big so I got the big scooter. Walker was great... scooter worked fine... no problems... and it was there with instructions when we checked in. We left them there when we checked out. Only problem I had was the large scooter did not fit in my car (Mercury Sable). Close... but, no cigar. So the wc came in handy for a few trips.
Disney transport CMs were great with one exception. Bus drivers were great. Monorail was great. Most boats were great. Had one run with a CM on boat from MGM to BWV. I had to beg to get ramp at MGM and then she refused to put it down at BWV. I let her know I was angry... she wanted to explain why she would not put it down... I told her I did not want to hear her story. My sister has a bad back and the bounce over the gap between the boat and dock was not too comfortable for her. I reported her at hotel.
Rides that worked out great (stay in ecv): Jungle Cruise, Imagination.
Rides that worked out - transfer to wc: Small World, Energy, MK Train
Rides that worked out - transfer to ride vehicle: Haunted mansion - HM gets special Kudos for treatment... Bob & Becky (if memory serves) were special. They listened to me... stopped the ride when the right car came along and gave her a special escort (asked her name and then led the way through the exit saying..."no time for autographs...she's too busy... too famous...make way" etc.... my sister really really enjoyed it. Thanks again Bob.
We later visited HM again and again got very good treatment... sorry I forgot the names.
Rides that she could not do: Mexico- could not handle large wheelchair (CM did it; I would have liked to try);
She tried but was unable to get on Spaceship earth ride - they also would not stop it like I asked... until my sister became unstable... I told them but they did not listen until almost too late!
I did get GAC but found it pretty useless. CM's would not even look at it when I presented it... I eventually stopped trying and just pleaded my case when necessary. When I did get it (and I got two because I hoped the first bad CM was a fluke) they did not listen to what she needed... just 'stamped' it with the generic message that didn't help much.
I must say, I admire all of you that struggle with this for a lifetime... I had one week and was ready to pound a few thoughtless individuals. I learned a lot.
BWV was nice... checking desk was always busy.
Buses are way overcrowded. They almost always leave filled with people standing and others that could not board. The wc access was very good. Drivers were great but they are asked to do the impossible with the number of buses that are running. I knew it was going to be bad the first night... I needed to take a bus from DTD to Port Orleans... as I approached the bus stop there was a very large crowd and they were cheering as a bus finally pulled up. It was almost full already, so not many could board. In Disney's defense... they do send other buses... it's just they wait until there is a problem and they they fix it... instead of not having the problem. Plus, people are not too happy having to stand on every bus trip after a long day in the parks. Every bus trip I made was the same. I had no problem with monorail or boats.
We ate at LTT dinner, LeCelier, Coral Reef, Spoodles, Morocco, Japan, Cape May Cafe breakfast - all went well at the restaurants. At Coral Reef we could not get close to the glass because of the ECV need but we still had a good view.
